Portrait of Best-In-Class Risk Management

It's not easy being global, based on the results of a study undertaken by analyst firm Aberdeen Group. The survey, which encompasses both industrial and consumer goods manufacturers and includes respondents from North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America, found that 58% suffered financial losses from supply chain disruptions over the past year. Some of the leading culprits:

supplier capacity did not meet demand (56%)

raw materials price increase or shortage (49%)

unexpected changes in customer demand (45%)

shipment delayed, damaged or misdirected (39%)

fuel price increase or shortage (35%).

One of the keys to building a risk-resilient supply chain, Aberdeen says, is to train employees on disruption response procedures, such as how to communicate delays to customers, when to elevate a disruption to the appropriate senior staff member and how to place a new urgent purchase order. Those manufacturers who have best-in-class risk management procedures in place are twice as likely as all others to have no major impact from supply chain disruptions.

The accompanying PACE (pressures, actions, capabilities and enablers) chart illustrates how manufacturers can progress from identifying a problem to focusing on a solution, and as a result become best-in-class themselves.